Seamlessly Create Your Case for Support with the Engagement Tool

Everyone finds it challenging to articulate clearly and in compelling terms what their campaign will raise money for and why it matters!

I keep looking for new ways to help them. And this week, I remembered the “Engagement Tool” that our friends at For Impact developed and I decided to try that model with one of our coaching clients.

This tool is brilliant! (So brilliant, I’m jealous I didn’t think of it!)

You can download the For Impact white paper at the end of this post. But first, let me tell you what it is and why I think it works.

For Impact’s Altitude Framework and Engagement Tool

The folks at For Impact use an “Altitude Framework.” That is, looking at your organization from different levels. From 30,000′ where you see the Vision. From 14,000′ where you see the Strategy. And from 3′ where you see the Execution — both how you will do it and how your donor can help.

They capture the three altitudes in an Engagement Tool.

This is a big 18″ x 24″ printed sheet. On one side, it lays out the Purpose, Priorities and Plans in a simple graphic form. The other side can be used for images or building plans or other material that brings the concepts to life.

There’s enough white space on both sides for drawing and inserting words and lists as you talk to your donor.

How do you use the Engagement Tool?

Let’s look at how the folks at For Impact use the Engagement Tool. They print enough copies to have one of these large pages for each donor they will visit. And when they talk to a donor, they’ll unroll it and put it on the table.

Then they sit or stand next to their donor and use pens and markers to capture some of the key points of their discussion right on the page.

Because it’s graphic and not paragraphs of text, the solicitor and the donor can look at it together, discuss it, tinker with it, add to it, scratch it out, draw on it. Together they make something that reflects the essential ideas about what the organization is doing and what the donor wants to do to help.

Hear Nick Fellers, President of For Impact and the Suddes Group, in a recording of a web-conversation with Andrea Kihlstedt about his remarkable Donor Engagement Tool.

Four Reasons to LOVE the Engagement Tool

1. It’s NOT a written document!

One of the challenges of a traditional case for support is that it’s dense. Even just three or four pages of writing with headings is dense and takes close reading. And frankly, people don’t read that way anymore.

2. Simple three-part structures make it easy to digest.

The Engagement Tool is laid out in threes. Three sections top to bottom, and three sections across. That’s about what must of us can easily comprehend. Have you tried to retain a set of five things recently? I’ll be you had trouble. Most people do.

3. It’s visual, but not fancy.

It’s not a brochure, but it’s designed clearly for easy of comprehension. You can look at it in the way you’d look at a board game and get a quick understanding of what it’s about. Think about a Monopoly Board. One glance and you’ve got a sense of what it’s about.

4. You’ll have side-by-side conversations.

I’ve long railed against the phrase “face to face” solicitation. Because really, it should be “side by side.” And if you have a big, simple, graphic case for support that you can comprehend at a glance, then you can stand next to your donor as a partner.

That’s the sense we want to get. Our donors are Partners, not Pockets!

You two are very funny. What is it about napkins? I think they capture the power of imperfection — draftiness — that gives people a sense that there’s room for them in the thinking process. Most of us try so hard to get everything just right. But really, the magic happens when you offer up some ideas and invite others help you make them better. That’s the power of the napkin! Thanks so much for your comments!